Brighton and Sussex Medical School study finds liver-disease patients who stop drinking are almost three times likely to survive after they leave hospital

08-8-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — Liver-disease patients are dying because of poor alcohol relapse rates after they leave hospital, according to a Brighton and Sussex Medical School study published today (Wednesday 24 July 2013).

Patients who do manage to stop drinking, however, are almost three times likely to survive.

The study, published on the Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics journal online library, is one of the first to assess the long-term outcome for in-patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis (SAH).

It was carried out at Brighton and Sussex University Hospital (BSUH) and Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), run by the universities of Brighton and Sussex.

Dr Jonathan Potts, Research Fellow, and Dr Sumita Verma, Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant, Hepatology, reviewed medical records of patients admitted to BSUH with SAH from 2006-2011 and found that more than half the cohort, 58 per cent, were dead at the end of the study period, with 97 per cent of these deaths directly related to the liver disease.

Only 20 per cent of the patients died during the initial hospitalisation, which is comparable with other studies assessing short-term outcome in SAH. However, two-thirds of the deaths occurred after hospital discharge, and were directly related to the high rate of alcohol relapse (65 per cent).

Those who remained free of alcohol were almost three times more likely to be alive than those who suffered an alcohol relapse. The estimated five-year survival was 75 per cent in those who stopped drinking, compared to 24 per cent in those with alcohol relapse.

Dr Verma said: “The results of this study are worrying. Our inpatient mortality is similar to other centres nationally and internationally, which suggests that our medical management of such patients during their initial hospital stay is excellent.

“However, the overall survival is very poor and this is directly related to the high rate of alcohol relapse after discharge from hospital. This is despite the fact that Brighton has well-developed and comprehensive hospital and community alcohol services.

“Our study highlights the urgent need for further multi-disciplinary research in this area, especially focusing on the use of anti-craving drugs in patients recently discharged with a diagnosis of SAH.”

Notes for Editors

Determinants of long-term outcome in severe alcoholic hepatitis’, J. R. Potts, S. Goubet, M. A. Heneghan & S. Verma, is published online on the Wiley Online Library as an an ‘early view’ publication and will appear in the journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

For more information contact Gordon Kay, Communications Manager, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, T: 01273 877844, M: 07816 518819, g.m.kay@bsms.ac.uk

Brighton and Sussex Medical School is a partnership between the Universities of Brighton and Sussex and the local NHS health community. At BSMS, we identify research areas in medicine where we believe we can make a rapid and real difference. Our focus is on the continuous improvement of medical treatment to deliver more personalised healthcare for patients, by applying basic science to answer fundamental clinical questions. BSMS brings together the combined expertise of the Universities of Brighton and Sussex and the local NHS health economy, to deliver research which is directly translated into health gains for the population.www.bsms.ac.uk

University of Sussex Press office contacts: Maggie Clune and Jacqui Bealing. Tel: 01273 678 888. Email:press@sussex.ac.uk

View press releases online at: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/newsandevents/

By: Maggie Clune

###

Follow EuropaWire on Google News
EDITOR'S PICK:

Comments are closed.